spring festival

We celebrated May Day with my preschool yesterday. There were actually flurries of snow and it only reached thirty-three degrees, but we had a wonderful time. We met at a nearby nature center, bundled in our winter coats and hats. I set up a small table outside to do a craft, we hiked the trails, went in the nature center to warm up, the children did circle for their parents, then we ended with a delicious pot-luck (fresh figs dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in crushed almonds...yummmm). I did not get one photo yesterday...my hands were too busy reining in my own children and keeping us all warm. The beautiful image of the children walking up the path with their silk and wood wands raised high in hand will remain with me.

My initial idea for this craft was to get parents involved in volunteering last week to help dye the silk and sand the wood wands, but our unusually cold temperatures did not allow for this. Maybe another year. So I dyed and sanded solo at home on Sunday.

Into the pot...call me crazy, but I dyed these in my kitchen in a twelve inch sauce pan.With the wicked wind and cold temperatures the silks dried quickly on a leafless shrub in front of my house.Dowels were cut and sanded.Holes drilled into the ends.As each child came to make their wand, they were able to choose three of the six colors to feed through the hole. Three ribbons were folded in half and the loop pushed through the hole, then the ribbon knotted through the loops.At school today, some of the children played with them so I could get a photo...as you can see the sun is shining beautifully today!It's kind of like having a maypole!

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spring festival

We celebrated May Day with my preschool yesterday. There were actually flurries of snow and it only reached thirty-three degrees, but we had a wonderful time. We met at a nearby nature center, bundled in our winter coats and hats. I set up a small table outside to do a craft, we hiked the trails, went in the nature center to warm up, the children did circle for their parents, then we ended with a delicious pot-luck (fresh figs dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in crushed almonds...yummmm). I did not get one photo yesterday...my hands were too busy reining in my own children and keeping us all warm. The beautiful image of the children walking up the path with their silk and wood wands raised high in hand will remain with me.

My initial idea for this craft was to get parents involved in volunteering last week to help dye the silk and sand the wood wands, but our unusually cold temperatures did not allow for this. Maybe another year. So I dyed and sanded solo at home on Sunday.

Into the pot...call me crazy, but I dyed these in my kitchen in a twelve inch sauce pan.With the wicked wind and cold temperatures the silks dried quickly on a leafless shrub in front of my house.Dowels were cut and sanded.Holes drilled into the ends.As each child came to make their wand, they were able to choose three of the six colors to feed through the hole. Three ribbons were folded in half and the loop pushed through the hole, then the ribbon knotted through the loops.At school today, some of the children played with them so I could get a photo...as you can see the sun is shining beautifully today!It's kind of like having a maypole!